A Heart-Matched Blade
"I'm so sorry things turned out like this!"
It was nice staying at Adorian-eonni's house, but of all times, she had been summoned by the Adventurers' Guild the very next morning.
"No, it's fine. I was planning on traveling alone anyway, and you already gave me the recommendation letter."
"Eonni, Eonni, can I go too...?"
"You are grounded!"
With Adorian-eonni leaving the house, Meria had subtly grabbed my sleeve, clearly hoping to tag along, but her mother's sharp scolding shut that down instantly.
"Your brother is coming home tomorrow, so don't get any funny ideas and stay put."
"Yes, Mother..."
So, I was heading to the Dwarf village alone, without any company as originally planned. Yesterday, Adorian-eonni had thoroughly checked the teleportation circle and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. In the end, it seemed my own body was the problem.
Teleportation was so expensive that I'd probably never have to use it again anyway, but it was still a bummer that using it would leave me in such a pathetic state.
"I mean, it's great that the teleportation actually works, but I won't have anyone to explain my state when I arrive. Besides, having half my neck torn open hurts like absolute hell."
I had rolled around and taken plenty of beatings at the Academy, but this kind of pain was on a completely different level. Even with my pain tolerance, it was this bad; an ordinary person would have blacked out instantly.
"Since we're a family of mages, we don't have any good swords lying around. I'm not sure if there's a decent blacksmith in this town, either. I've never paid attention to that sort of thing."
"Don't worry about it. I'm going to get a sword soon anyway, so there's no point in wasting money on a temporary one."
"Alright. But you absolutely must visit our house again next time, okay?"
"Anyone watching would think I'm your actual daughter."
Because of my hurried departure, I didn't get to hear any of her old stories. Adorian-eonni told me I could look through her archives as much as I wanted while she was away, but searching through ancient documents for the specific books I needed was a daunting task. Seriously, who keeps an entire town library's worth of books in their house?
"I'll drop by next time. And thank you for the money and food."
"It's the least I can do after you saved my foolish daughter. Honestly, I feel bad that I couldn't do more, and I couldn't even keep my promise to you. Next time you come, I'll treat you properly. I promise!"
The deal was that I'd get information in exchange for sex, but in the end, I ended up just giving her sex. Still, it wasn't a bad experience, so I decided to let it slide. After giving Meria a gentle pat on the head, I waved a brief goodbye and turned to leave, but—
"Mmph?!"
"Chuu... nnh, haah... slurp..."
Having sent Meria inside, Adorian-eonni grabbed both of my cheeks, pulled me in, and shoved her tongue into my mouth. After a brief moment of surprise, I began to move my tongue in rhythm with hers. Since I rarely exchanged tongues even with Meria, deep kissing always felt a bit awkward. But she didn't stop there; she cupped my breast, kneading it gently. Ah, fuck, I need to leave, but she's making me horny again...
"Don't die. I know you won't, but still, don't die."
"Yeees..."
I looked up at her with a dazed, melted expression, swallowing the string of saliva stretching between our lips.
"Let's do it way more next time."
Phew, alright, time to get moving.
The Dwarf village I was recommended was located to the west. It wasn't that they chose to live in isolation; there were simply an abundance of mineral veins and mines in the west. It took four days just to reach the nearest town. From there, it was another half-day journey to the actual Dwarf village.
"Ah, fuck, I feel like throwing up..."
A grueling five-day journey. I had never really experienced motion sickness in my life, but the road was so incredibly shitty that my stomach was churning to the point of death. Adorian-eonni had booked a private carriage so I could travel comfortably alone, but the sheer boredom almost killed me a second time. It wasn't like I was the type who wanted to go around laughing and chatting merrily, but sitting there doing absolutely nothing for five days made me regret not taking the teleportation circle more than ten times—even though the memory of my limbs and neck being torn apart was still vividly fresh.
"Ugh..."
If I could at least throw up properly, I'd feel better, but this vague, lingering nausea was driving me insane.
"Ah, my hand again."
I already had a habit of unconsciously scratching the back of my hand, but with the lethal combination of extreme boredom and nausea, I had scratched it far more than usual. The skin on the back of my hand was completely ruined.
"How many times have I said I'm going to die today?"
It was a relief to finally arrive at the Dwarf village, but because of my miserable physical state, I had to waste quite a bit of time just taking deep breaths before I could actually enter. Come to think of it, since I had met Meria on my very first day, this was my first time traveling completely alone. I felt a bit sorry to Meria, but I couldn't help but feel a different kind of excitement.
I had some strange prejudices about Dwarves, but the village atmosphere wasn't cold or exclusionary toward outsiders at all. It felt like a normally bustling merchant street. It was loud, filled with people haggling and chatting.
"Could you help me with this recommendation letter?"
She had told me that showing it to any dwarf would get me help.
"A recommendation letter? It's rare for a customer to bring one of those."
He was quite tall for a dwarf... well, only about 170 centimeters, but compared to the other dwarfs who were barely 140 to 150 centimeters, he was practically a giant.
"Let's see here... Let's see..."
The dwarf hummed a tune as he tore open the letter, then stared intently at me.
"Did you really receive this directly from her?"
What on earth did she give me?
If it had been any other question, I would have tried to come up with an excuse, but since he was just asking if I received it directly, I gave a light nod.
"She's a famous one, alright. Go to that forge over there—the only one with a purple flag."
His expression seemed a bit suspicious, but maybe I was just imagining things.
"No need. I'm already right behind you."
Ah, fuck, you scared the shit out of me.
"Ah, fuck, what a jump scare."
The tall dwarf spoke my thoughts aloud. At the sudden voice from behind, I turned around, trying my best to look unfazed. A dwarf with dark red hair was looking up at me.
"What's this, old man? Did you know she was coming?"
"I was just passing by."
Speaking in a gruff tone, the dwarf snatched the letter and read it carefully.
"Did you really receive this directly?"
Seriously, what did she give me?
"Wait, old man, didn't you lay down your hammer?"
"Lay it down? I merely stopped taking commissions. Are you treating me like some senile old man locked in a room?"
The old man crumpled the letter and threw it straight into the forge's furnace. The tall dwarf let out a shocked shout.
"Why the hell did you burn it?!"
"Foolish brat. The smell of the burning charcoal, the color of the flames—it's all wrong. I saved you the time of having to start all over from scratch, and you yell at me first?"
Instead of getting angry at the tall dwarf's shouting, the old dwarf calmly and bluntly explained. The tall dwarf scratched his head sheepishly, muttering under his breath as he began to rake out the charcoal. I didn't know much about smithing or tempering swords, but his skill seemed undeniable.
"You there, brat. Follow me."
Keep a straight face, keep a straight face...
Hearing things like "an old man in a room" and "the only purple flag," I had imagined some reclusive master craftsman forging swords alone in a dark corner. Instead, it was a perfectly ordinary blacksmith shop right in front of a wide plaza. I felt like all my prejudices were being shattered one by one these past few days.
"How do you know that Adorian fellow?"
"Huh? Ah, well..."
I had been looking around the unexpectedly ordinary forge when the sudden question caught me off guard. My brain stalled for a moment as I debated how honest I should be, or how much I should beat around the bush. Well, if he's someone Adorian-eonni recommended, it probably doesn't matter too much.
"I owe a debt to Adorian. We don't know each other personally."
"A debt, is it..."
Without explaining what he was thinking, he sat down on a chair and poured tea into a refined, elegant jade cup. Wait, aren't Dwarves supposed to drink beer? Is this dwarf just weird?
"I am Berentil."
"I'm Syaruen."
"Are you a succubus?"
"I'm a human."
I blurted out that I was human out of pure reflex, and in that instant, I truly understood what it meant for one's heart to drop. I had figured he was a bit eccentric and difficult, but I never expected a question like that to fly out of nowhere.
"Adorian saved our village."
The old m—Berentil suddenly began to recount the past.
"It was about fifteen years ago, I think. I don't remember all the details, but a party of about five came to our village looking for swords. Back then, this wasn't a place adventurers visited directly. We usually loaded our swords onto carriages and sold them in neighboring towns."
Seriously, did that woman ever actually stay at home?
"At the time, a pack of succubi invaded us, trying to plunder the blacksmiths' blades. Since there weren't many adventurers around, they must have thought we were easy targets. It was Adorian's party that drove them off."
Ah, so that's the story she mentioned before—about how she immediately took care of some succubi. If she was protecting a village, of course she had to take care of them immediately. What kind of person was she, really?
"For personal reasons, I haven't forged a sword on commission for over thirty years. But they saved our entire village, not just a single life. I couldn't just hand them some mediocre blade, feed them alcohol, and send them on their way. After some discussion, the party agreed to have another blacksmith forge their original order, while Adorian would claim the sword I owed them at a later date."
Sip.
"I didn't ask why. She simply left the village, saying she would ask for it when the time came. And that request is what you hold now. The reason I asked if you were a succubus was because you gave off a similar vibe to the ones back then."
Wow, she was trying to give me something incredibly valuable, wasn't she?
"I guarantee the quality of my work. However, there is one condition. Tell me your story. I don't mean anything grand. Just tell me what you like, what you dislike, and what you've been through. I don't forge swords that merely fit a person's body; I forge swords that align with their heart. That is my philosophy. It's the very reason I've reached this level of mastery."
"As long as you don't mind if the story gets a bit long."
"I don't mind. It's one of the few small entertainments in this secluded corner of the world. You don't have to tell me right now. Tell me once I've gathered all the materials."
I nodded quietly in response, and the dwarf pushed himself up from his seat and walked into the back room.